UNH freshman Melissa Powers bought a gold meal plan and used only two of the six guest passes during fall semester. She assumed guest passes rolled over and was disappointed when she received news that they expired.
Students were upset when they discovered their unused guest passes couldn't be used when fall semester ended, causing many to question the policy.
"I was bummed because I had four left over and I could have used them for this semester," said Powers. "I planned on using the rest of them."
In an effort to change this policy, Residential Life's proposal that would allow student's dining guest passes to roll from fall semester into spring semester was unanimously passed by student senate on March 22. However, Hospitality Services must approve the policy before any changes are made.
If all guest passes were honored they would cost Dining Services $73,346 per semester, with a yearly sum of $146,000. Due to this large sum of money, dining said they want to evaluate these figures in order to figure out how they will reconstruct the policy.
"With the economy the way it is right now, dining wanted to be able to have time to look at their numbers, see where they are and go from there," said Sarah Morse, chair of the Dining Committee. UNH Dining decided the policy would not be considered for implementation until 2011. Jon Plodzik, the director of Dining Services, said his department is gathering data in order to meet this request.
There are three levels of meal plans: platinum, gold and silver. The gold plan, which is most popular, costs $1,845 per semester for 200 dining dollars and six guest passes. The platinum plan costs $2,045 per semester and includes 400 dining dollars and eight guest passes; and silver costs $1,645 with no dinning dollars and four guest passes. Since many students don't use all of their guest passes, many potential meals go to waste. "Those meals expiring are similar to saying that a gift card expires or a $5 bill expires," said Student Body President John Banks. "I voted for the resolution to pass because, the way I see it, students are paying for those meals embedded in the cost of their meal plan. Students are also paying for these guest passes and they should be allowed to use them all year."
Currently, Dining Services records how many students don't use their guest passes, which is currently only 50 percent. Soon they will have to figure out a way to provide the increased cost for more meals if students will be able to hold on to their passes longer.
"It might not seem like a lot, but when you take into consideration how many people have guest passes and how many guest passes each of those people have, it adds up," said Banks.
But Dining Services wants to accommodate students as much as they can, and it is a question of benefit over expense. Plodzik said if they spend money in one area they must take it from somewhere else to balance their financial responsibilities.
"The benefit is debatable from our perspective," said Plodzik. "It does not seem wise to gamble on providing something that doesn't seem to be needed, to please a select few."
Students would benefit from receiving a chance to use all guest passes because they would get their money's worth from their meal plan. And with a change of policy, students could save guest passes in case they need them for spring semester. "The policy will be good in case I don't use my guest passes," said freshman Casey Reioly. "It's better if you had the option or not."
When fall semester of 2011 rolls around, students will have an answer to whether or not they can use their remaining guest passes for spring semester. Until then, students must tolerate the current policy on guest passes.
"I understand the reasoning behind the request," said Plodzik. "We work hard to meet the requests of student senate. That is my job."
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